Say please
by LadyCordeliaStuart
Summary: An alternative take on the scene where Kelly talks Elliott into helping them build the plane again, where Elliott forces her to decide how far she's willing to go to secure his help. One-shot.


Kelly sat on the ground, leaning against the wreck of the plane. The metal would have been painfully hot in the heat of the day, but it was evening now and it was in the shade—some of the only shade available in this damn desert.

The others clustered nearby, talking in low voices. She knew who they were talking about: the one member of the group who wasn't outside: Elliott.

How had things escalated so quickly? They'd been working so hard to rebuild the crashed plane, and against all odds, it had seemed to be working. When Elliott had first suggested creating a new plane out of the old freighter than had gone down, Kelly had thought he was crazy. But she had to hand it to him—there was a hope now that hadn't been there when they'd first crashed into the Mongolian sand dunes. Even gruff Captain Towns had finally gotten in the spirit of things, working as hard as anybody to create a new plane.

Everything had gone wrong when Ian tried to talk to those smugglers, and Alex—poor Alex. There was nothing she could do to keep him from bleeding out. He'd died on the table only minutes after they'd dragged his body back from the smugglers' camp.

That alone had set people on edge, but when A.J. and the others came back dragging one of the smugglers with them, tensions and tempers had really risen as the group argued about what to do with him: give him water? Leave him to die? Take him back to his camp?

Elliott had solved that with one quick shot to the head.

Kelly still could hardly believe quiet, reserved Elliott had been able to shoot someone in such cold blood. A part of her understood his reasoning, a primal part that the rest of her recoiled from. But while she wrestled with what he'd done, he seemed completely at ease—no remorse or doubt at all. It was a side of him she hadn't seen before, and honestly, it scared her.

Come to think of it, she didn't know almost anything about Elliott. He'd blown into their oil station a few weeks ago, saying he was hitching his way around the world. She hadn't even known he designed airplanes until he told the group a few days ago. He had always been impeccably polite, soft spoken, and reserved, preferring to keep to himself even when she tried to draw him into her work team. He seemed like a nice guy, and he was cute in a very geeky way—plus, a new face was a nice change from the monotony. But he never came around. The group would split a six-pack and he'd stay cooped up with a book. She didn't know if he was shy or he didn't like them, and until now, she hadn't really cared—he wasn't her problem. But now everyone was depending on him, and she never knew where they stood.

Well, she knew now: something was very wrong. After Elliott had shot the smuggler, he and the captain had gotten into a real argument, screaming at each other at the top of their lungs until Towns finally slammed Elliott with a vicious uppercut that left him sprawled in the dirt. No one had said anything as he stiffly picked himself up and stalked off to the airplane, holing himself up in the shade while the rest of them looked at each other nervously. No one knew what to do, but they all knew something was very wrong.

"Somebody's got to talk to him," A.J. finally spoke up. "He can't brood in there forever."

"Captain Towns was the one who punched him," Ian pointed out, a bit peevishly. "He should do it."

"I've got nothing to say to that son of a gun," Towns growled. "He can come talk to me."

As if on cue, everyone turned and looked Kelly.

"Hey, don't look at me," she snapped. "I don't want to get involved in this."

"But you're a woman," Ian said, as if that was a totally sufficient explanation in itself. When she didn't look convinced, he continued impatiently, "Women are good at these things—these relationship sort of things. He'll listen to you. Just go calm him down."

Kelly rolled her eyes. "You can't be serious."

Captain Towns walked over to her. "Maybe Ian's right," he said, almost apologetically. "I doubt Elliott wants to talk to me, and frankly I don't trust myself not to punch him. But you could talk the little bastard out of whatever funk he's in."

She didn't want to admit his reasoning, but it made sense. She hadn't antagonized Elliott, and he'd always been respectful and polite to her. Maybe she _could _calm him down. She certainly had a better chance than the rest of these testosterone-leaking he-men.

"Fine," she muttered, standing up. "I'll go talk to him. Towns, you owe me."

Kelly ducked into the airplane, which was blessedly cool in the evening—at least, cooler than the 100 degree sand outside. She scanned the seats and found Elliott curled in the far corner of the plane, tracing figurines on the sand-covered window next to him.

"Elliott?" she called, trying to sound friendlier than she felt.

For some reason she couldn't understand, she felt nervous. Why should she feel nervous about Elliott? He was weird, certainly, but he'd never been dangerous or even rude.

She walked over to him, picking her way around the tight seats and scattered luggage. The group only really used the plane at night, for shelter. They hadn't bothered to clean it up much.

"What do you want?" Elliott asked, his voice a mixture of boredom and annoyance.

"I just wanted to see how you're doing," Kelly replied. "Is your face okay?"

Elliott scoffed. "I'm not a china doll. I'll be fine." He finally turned from the window to look at her and added, dripping sarcasm, "_Thank you_ for your concern."

"I don't know how everything got so crazy," Kelly pushed on, "but I hope you and Captain Towns can patch things up. He's willing to talk, and… and we'd like to get back to work on the plane before we lose too much daylight."

"Oh, _I _see," Elliott replied, standing up and walking out to the aisle to be closer to her. He was smiling, but it was a cold and mocking smile. "They sent you in to soothe me with your feminine charms, is that it? Towns was too proud to come himself, but he figured I couldn't say no to the pretty redhead."

Kelly tried to ignore the heat creeping to her cheeks. "He needs time to cool off," she said, a bit more testily than she'd intended. "But he does feel bad about what happened, and—"

"Frankly, I don't know if I even care to continue this little project," Elliott cut her off. "If I had the strength of ten men, I might be able to build the plane. But all I have is you unreliable people."

"We've been working hard!" Kelly snapped, finding it harder to control her irritation now. "We've been doing everything you say…"

Elliott laughed contemptuously. "Your group have goofed off the whole way through. And Towns questions my designs the whole way through. I know what they're whispering about me as they work. And I think I've had enough of their insubordination."

"Elliott, don't be stupid," Kelly replied, both uneasy and annoyed. "If you don't work together with us, we'll all die—including you."

"We'll all die either way the way your group works, so why should I bother anymore?"

Now his voice was getting louder too, and Kelly realized he wasn't as smoothly in control as he liked to seem. She didn't want to push him into doing something they'd both regret, so she tried again, more gently this time.

"I'll talk to the others, and I'll convince them to be reliable," she said. "I'll talk to Towns, too. They'll change." And while she hated to add it, she knew how Elliott liked to have his ego stroked, so she said, "We need you, Elliott."

Elliott seemed to relax, and his familiar smirk came back to his face. "Yes, you do," he agreed, and his smirk stretched wider. "Say please."

Kelly's stomach twisted as she realized just how off Elliott was. "You've got to be kidding me."

His amused expression didn't change as he repeated, "Say please."

She didn't want to. God, she didn't want to. She shouldn't have to. But she knew how precariously everyone's fates were balancing on her interaction with him. So she forced out, "Please."

"Oh come on, Kelly," Elliott replied, like he was coaxing a petulant child to eat her vegetables, "you can say it nicer than that."

Kelly forced herself to stay calm. "_Please_, Elliott."

Elliott shook her head, stepping so close to her they were only inches apart. Kelly hadn't realized how tall he was before; she had to crane her neck up to look at him. "Please, what?" he asked, tracing a finger down her cheek and cupping her chin. She tried not to flinch. "Ask me like you'd ask Captain Towns."

How she wanted to slap that smirk off his face, but she forced her voice to go soft and pleading. "Please, Elliott, will you—"

But that's as far as she got before he leaned down and kissed her.

Her first startled instinct was to jerk back, but his grip around her neck tightened so that she couldn't move. And somehow she knew better than to chomp down on his tongue when he forced it into her mouth. That would just make things worse.

Mercifully, he kept the kiss short. "You taste so sweet," he grinned, "sort of like strawberries. I bet Captain Towns has wondered for days how you taste. I bet they all have, but only I know."

Blood rushed to Kelly's cheeks. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why? Because I can," Elliott answered, tracing her lips with his thumb. His hand slid down her neck, fingers tracing the hollow of her throat. "Because for once, I'm not the bottom of the pecking order." He ran his fingers along her collarbone, slipping them under her shirt and bra strap. "For once, our muscle-headed Neanderthal of a captain doesn't get to make the orders." He wound his fingers through her red curls. "And for once, _I _get the pretty girl."

Kelly looked up at him in horror.

"So," he continued, eyes hardening, "kiss me again."

_Don't think about it_, she ordered herself, standing on tiptoe to kiss him on the mouth. The kiss was hesitant at first, but Elliott kissed her back hard, pulling on her hair to give him better access to her mouth. He pushed her up against the side of the plane so that their bodies were flush against each other as his free hand slid along her hip and under her shirt.

Finally he released her mouth. "Good girl," he whispered, breathing hard. "Now let's go talk to our esteemed Captain Towns."

He took her hand in a startlingly intimate gesture and led her outside. Kelly didn't know what would happen next, but she knew things would never go back to the way they were before.


End file.
